Standards and Pinsils and Pennons, Oh My!

A Cursory Glance at Medieval Flags and Banners

This is an ancient site. It hasn't been maintained at all. But I've had three requests for it in the last month or so, so I dug it out of the backups. I may or may not get back to it some day -- medieval flags and banners are still an interest of mine.

In preparing to make a set of medieval armorial flags, I took a look around to see what I could find out about them first. This is a snapshot of my findings so far.

Flags Through Time

Thirteenth Century

Fourteenth Century

Fifteenth Century

Seventeenth Century

Flags By Shape

Essays, Articles, and Web Sources

An extraction from Herbert Norris: Costume & Fashion, Volume Two - Senlac to Bosworth, 1066-1485 -- Chapter V, Heraldry
The Oxford English Dictionary -- extractions.
A Brief Definition of Types of Medieval Flags (SCA Heraldry List Archives)

Labarum (Chi-Rho) from The Catholic Encyclopedia

Tents and Pavilions

This page created: 24 June 1996
Last updated: 11 March 1999 (yeah, really)